


Variations on North and South

by AmberLynn068



Series: Variations on North and South [1]
Category: North and South - Ambiguous Fandom, North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell | UK TV
Genre: Angst, F/M, Love, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Regret, Rejection, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 18:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16001162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberLynn068/pseuds/AmberLynn068
Summary: A slight variation on North and South, looking at how the plot could have altered if Henry Lennox had decided to pay the Hales a visit in Milton and encountered Mr Thornton there.





	Variations on North and South

The people of Milton had grown used to seeing Margaret’s tall, graceful figure distinctively making its way through the grandest streets and the poorest patches of Milton alike, but they were used to seeing her either unaccompanied, or, on increasingly rare occasions, with her father. On this occasion, however, there was an unknown man escorting her through the crowds.  Mr Thornton saw that a few heads were turning discreetly as the couple walked past, long before Mr Bell drew attention to them by loudly calling Margaret over.  He couldn’t help but notice that one of Margaret’s small white hands had wound its way through the crook of this man’s elbow, the other firmly clasping its mate over this man’s forearm.

At the sound of Margaret’s name being called, both Margaret and the gentleman turned their heads with the haste that is so characteristic of surprise, to see Mr Bell waving them across the road. The man immediately made to cross the road in response but Margaret suddenly fell half a step behind him. The distance between Margaret’s arms, involuntarily pulled taut from the rest of her body by this other man, and her stationary torso, highlighted her reluctance to do likewise.  The man turned to her for a moment in confusion and a quick conversation began to take place, muted by the noise of Milton’s streets. A carriage, piled high with goods, passed in front of the group, obscuring their view. Its passage was impeded by the Milton traffic and it stopped for several moments before starting to crawl along the narrow, packed streets. For a moment Mr Thornton thought that by the time the vehicle left their view they would have moved on, but when it did eventually make its way forward, they saw the man weaving Margaret through the traffic to meet them on the other side of the road, with only Margaret’s uncharacteristic reluctance to raise her eyes in Mr Thornton’s direction a hint that she had been reluctant to join them.

Was it his imagination or had Margaret never worn that white dress in the streets of Milton before?

“Margaret!” Mr Bell exclaimed by way of greeting. “And Mr Lennox, I take it?”

“Mr… Bell”, he said with a questioning tone, turning to Margaret for confirmation as he did so. Margaret’s head inclined in confirmation, reminding Mr Thornton of a queen inclining her head towards her subjects in commendation. As Lennox turned back to face Bell a wide, slightly too fixed smile spread across his face.  “I am very pleased to meet you sir”.

“Mr Henry Lennox, the eminent lawyer, straight from London” Bell said by way of introduction to the surrounding group. The keen, intelligent eyes darted round the group before continuing, perhaps with a touch of mischief in his voice,  “the son of Sir Charles Lennox, I believe.“

“I have the honour of being Sir Charles’ son”.

“And an Oxford man, if I recall correctly”.

“Cambridge.  Kings College to be precise”.

“Well we won’t hold that against you.”

They shared a laugh of complicity. They understood each other, these two men.  

“I’m surprised that you could spare the time to come all this way sir”, Bell continued. “Margaret tells us that your reputation has increased so swiftly that you  are constantly sought out by the eminent residents of London”.

Margaret’s head swivelled towards Bell with all of the natural grace and elegance that characterised her everyday movements but none of her customary control. He thought he could detect a flicker of confusion, perhaps tinged with annoyance, in Margaret’s eyes. Was Bell betraying confidences he had been entrusted with as an intimate friend of the Hales? Was he making Margaret’s regard for this man, this gentleman, too clear? His eyes swiftly darted towards Lennox with all the alert timidity of a wounded prey. He thought he could detect a blush make its way across his cheeks but when he answered, his voice remained calm and even. “Margaret is never untruthful, but she is, perhaps, too generous”.

Bell turned to the rest of the group and made his introductions. Lennox received most of them with polite but bland interest, shaking hands with the banker and touching his hat politely to Miss Latimer. At the sound of the name “Thornton”, however, the smile wavered for a moment before disappearing altogether. His acknowledging repetition of  “Mr Thornton” was said with no small degree of surprise and Mr Lennox had to take the time it took for Mr Thornton to nod coldly in answer to look down and recover his smile. It was a little more fixed than before when he raised his head.

His voice was shaky when he asked “Would you happen to be looking for investors?” but it recovered a more natural, if nasty and superior tone, when, glancing at Margaret, he followed this with “my brother is interested in dabbling in cotton”.       

“I’m not sure I’m the right person to talk to. I’m not sure I’d know how to dabble”.

Margaret’s eyes darted between the two with a mixture of confusion and surprise before she recovered herself and said to Bell, perhaps wanting the encounter to swiftly come to an end, “Henry is joining us for dinner tonight. You will come too, Mr Bell, I am sure. It would give my parents such pleasure to receive you, I know”.  

Bell inclined his head in acceptance before suggesting that he could accompany Margaret and Lennox back to the Hales’ home. The group divided and went in opposite directions, with Bell accompanying Lennox and Margaret, and Thornton accompanying the Latimers into the centre of town. Margaret’s head turned back for a few seconds to watch Mr Thornton disappear into the crowds with Miss Latimer, before Mr Bell called her attention back towards himself.

Mr Thornton cared too much to look back.


End file.
